Thursday, July 31, 2008

The plain white DOC Band had to go and is replaced with something with a little more personality. I painted it blue, but because we didn't put a sealant on it the paint began to rub off. So we removed the paint, but it did leave a blue tint to it. You can't really tell in the pictures. Then we put these cute rub on sticker things on it. I'm not too confident that it will all stay on so it could change over time.

CJ has been pretty fussy today. It's hard to tell if it's teething or the band. The red mark on the side of his head continues to show up. It does take a while for it to go away. Cranial Tech called this afternoon to check on things and I mentioned the red spot which lasts more than an hour. She said if it goes away it's fine and when we come in next week they'll relieve some pressure there.

I noticed some dry skin on the back of his head later tonight. It's not red or anything so I guess it's okay. As I kept being told yesterday pink skin is healthy skin. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get any worse.

Sleeping has been pretty much not happening today. He might have napped a total today of 3 hours if we were lucky. Mostly cat naps. He's very restless tonight sleeping in the helmet. Again I'm not sure if it's the helmet or teething or something else entirely. I was giving him a bath tonight and he kept pulling on his right ear. So I'm not sure if he might be coming down with something. Maybe he just discovered that it was there and free to be played with. Maybe it was itchy, I don't really know. So another thing for me to keep an eye on. But pretty much I don't anticipate getting too much sleep tonight. And since Joe has to get up early for work I'll be up with him tonight. I might just sleep out in the living room actually so to not disturb Joe.

I am hoping tomorrow will be a better day for him. I guess we'll see. He still looks so darn cute though, doesn't he?

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Today we made the hour drive to Clinton to go to Cranial Technologies for the 3rd time this month. This time it was to actually receive the DOC Band that is going to reshape his head and make it more round, we hope. So here he is. Happy as a clam. So far he seems to be doing well with it. He gets mad when you are putting it on, but that only lasts a few seconds and then he's fine. I put him down for a nap though today and he didn't like it much. He's supposed to wear this 23 hours a day.

The first few days though we have to take it off to check his skin. So every three hours we have to take it off and if there are any red marks on his head we have to keep it off till they fade. If tomorrow the red marks last more than an hour then we'll have to call the clinic. He seems to have this one spot on the right side of his head that gets pretty red and stays that way. Actually, it's looking a little raised right now too. We opted to let him sleep without it tonight even though they told us to leave it on him at night. I decorated it tonight though and the paint is still drying. I think his head could use a break from it though.

And of course this has to be one of the hottest days of the week this week that we get it. He's been sweating, which they told us is normal. It will take a few days for his body to regulate and get used to it, but the sweating is supposed to stop.

We have to take it off everyday and clean the inside with 70% rubbing alcohol. We'll also have to shampoo his head every night. I'm hoping this thing doesn't get too stinky though.

It is basically a hard smooth plastic on the outside. It's even taking some getting used to for me. I was carrying him today and rammed his head into the door frame. It didn't phase him at all. He's independent with sitting up, but he's trying to do more now that he has more confidence. So now when he falls over this kind of cushions his head. This could be a good thing, but also could be a bad thing. He's going to become quite the dare devil.

We go back next Wednesday to get it checked and make sure everything is okay. Hopefully after that we'll only have to go back every two weeks and not every week.

And now I leave you some pictures from this morning at Cranial Tech when he got the DOC band and while they were trimming it. We hung out there for a little while to see how he handled it. So CJ had fun playing with the toys while we waited. Tomorrow I will hopefully have the band completely decorated and I can share pictures of how we personalized it for him. I couldn't leave it just plain white.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Don't forget that I'm doing my very first giveaway. Be sure to leave a comment on my post Ten Things of Ten to be entered into my giveaway. I will choose the winner at random on Friday August 1st. So be sure to check back here then to see who the winner is because it just might be YOU! My dream would be to get 100 comments on my 100th post so please help my dream come true. That would be awesome!

Wow, it's been a while since I've written anything on here. I guess I haven't had too much to say. Friday my landlord did come back up to work on the ceiling, but he's STILL not done. And he won't be back this week to finish anything either because apparently he's busy all week. I gave him access all afternoon/evening on Thursday and then he was up here Friday morning for an hour before I had to take the kids to swimming and I let him back at 1 for a couple of hours. I told him we couldn't have him here at all on Saturday because we wouldn't be home at all. It almost seems like he's mad at us because we wouldn't let him in. Shame on us for having plans. Sorry, but it was my cousin's 30th birthday party. I couldn't miss that.

Speaking of my cousin's 30th birthday here she is, the birthday girl. She actually turns 30 tomorrow which is also my niece's 1st birthday. Sadly I can't celebrate my niece because my brother has disowned me, but I had a good time celebrating my cousin. And no, I still have no plans of turning 30 myself. That's all for you Margaret ;). Here are some more pictures from the day. I thought I forgot my camera and didn't realize I had it the whole time until we left. So these are pictures that my Aunt (Margaret's mom) took and e-mailed to me. Thanks Aunt Kathy...

Awww aren't they sweet! Margaret with her boyfriend Kevin. Kevin threw this great party for Margaret. Thanks Kevin!

Margaret with her birthday cake. Can she blow out all those candles?

Here she is giving it a try. She got them all.

Here's Uncle Jimmy (Margaret's Dad)

Here's CJ wondering who's taking another picture of me???

Kaitlyn, so sweet!

Natalie, so grown up!

Joe says, "Oh no you're not going to take my picture!" Oh yes Aunt Kathy is and she did!

And I guess it's only fair to add the picture of me even though I really don't like it. Everyone else is there though so I figure I should be fair.

Sunday we went to Lake Compounce and got caught in the rain there. We had a good time before the rain came down though.

And today is back to the weekly grind. The girls had swimming this morning and CJ had therapy this afternoon. Both went well. I should have more to say this week. Wednesday CJ gets his Doc Band. They actually called me today saying it came in early and wanting me to come this afternoon or tomorrow morning instead. I told them no though because Joe took the day off on Wednesday to come with us. Of course we had CJ's therapy this afternoon and tomorrow morning CJ has swimming. I couldn't miss either of those. So we kept our appointment for Wednesday.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Sometimes I really hate renting. Our landlord has no concept of time. He needed to put up some insulation on our drop ceiling in our kitchen to hopefully help us retain some of our heat in the winter. So this week apparently is the week of repairs for him. He was up here Monday trying to fix things which we've only been asking him to fix for the past two years. Those aren't complete though. The only thing he completed was fixing the accordion door on our kitchen closet. He took the screen out of our screen door, but he still has that so we can't have our door open without letting bugs in. He's supposed to replace a light in Natalie's room, but that hasn't happened yet and he claims to have ordered a new window for our bedroom which has a tendency to fall right out of the frame.

He was looking to come up and do this insulation in the kitchen today, tomorrow, or Saturday. Today was the only day for me. So after swimming lessons today I came home and told him he could come up at 1 to start that. I asked how long it would be and he said about 3 hours. Okay, so he should be done by 4. Plenty of time for me to cook dinner.

So he comes up half an hour late ready to work or so I think. I had to move stuff out of his way (one thing being my very wobbly microwave cart). He moved the tiles on the ceiling and took some measurements I suppose. He told me that it was more of a problem than he originally thought and would need to get to an area over my fridge, but he would work on the other area first. Good because I wasn't moving the fridge for him. So he leaves without a word. Ceiling tiles are still off and his ladder in the middle of my kitchen with some debris on the floor. Kind of like this...

And here's the ceiling...

He returns at 3:15 finally and says okay the insulation is all cut for that one area now I need to measure the other. So he gets up there and measures and tells me he's going to cut that and he'll be back. That was that. And here's the other part of my ceiling which needs fixing...

My ceiling is exposed and he hasn't actually done anything here. And then I spot him outside doing this...

Bringing in the groceries and not cutting my ceiling insulation.

So now it's after 4 when I had hoped all of this would be done. Joe gets home in an hour or so and I need to get dinner started. However, I'm now going to have to work around all of this mess and surely he will come up either right when I begin cooking or right when we sit down to eat in our mess of a kitchen. Clearly he does not see how much he inconveniences us when he does this stuff. I want the work done, but is it unreasonable of me to not want to sit around all day while he's supposed to be working, but instead is doing nothing? Is it unreasonable of me to not want my kitchen to remain torn up at dinner time when he basically said he'd be out of here by 4 with the job done?

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

CJ has been receiving PT since June because he wasn't rolling over or sitting up yet. His therapists have been so impressed with him. When we first started he really had no upper body strength at all. Now CJ is sitting up on his own and will reach for toys in front of him or to the side and get himself back up into a seated position. When he gets on his tummy and isn't screaming (which is still a struggle) he will hold himself up with his arms and reach for toys with one hand while holding himself up. He can even be up on his knees. He doesn't get his trunk up off the floor, but it probably won't be long. His therapist came out today and she was so impressed with what she saw from him. And in all honesty I don't do too much with him. He's been doing it all on his own. It is so fun watching him begin to do these things. He is making super progress.

Monday, July 21, 2008

In honor of my 100th post, which this is, I am giving you all 10 lists of 10. Also this is my first giveaway. If you leave me a comment on this post, then you will be randomly selected to win a prize. I promise it will be a good one, but I have to keep some suspense here and I won't tell you what it is. So lets get on with my 100th post...

Ten Songs I Love1. Pour Some Sugar on Me2. Dr. Feelgood3. Make Love like a Man (this calms CJ down in the car)4. Freshman5. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing6. We are the Champions7. Santa Monica8. Schools Out9. Love Bites10. Rock of Ages

Ten Stores I Love1. Stop and Shop (after all they do give my husband his pay check)2. Old Navy3. JC Penney4. Babies R Us5. Once Upon a Child6. Walmart (don't really love, but it's convenient)7. Toys R Us8. Avon (I know not really a store, but I have the best Avon Rep ever)9. Payless Shoes10. Stride Rite Shoes

Ten Days of the Year I Love1. April 22nd (Natalie's birthday)2. April 11th (Kaitlyn's birthday)3. November 1st (CJ's birthday)4. November 2nd (my birthday)5. July 21st (Joe's birthday, Happy Birthday Honey!)6. December 25th7. October 31st8. March 4th (anniversary)9. The 1st day of school10. The last day of school

Ten Events I will Never Forget1. Getting my drivers license2. Graduating from high school3. My first day at college4. Giving birth to my 1st child5. Getting married6. Giving birth to my second child7. Giving birth to my third child8. My 1st kiss9. My 1st date10. My children's 1st day of school

Ten Books I Love1. The Clown of God2. The Firm3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer4. The Pelican Brief5. Where are the Children6. A Time to Kill7. Green Eggs and Ham8. Sam I Am9. The Chronicles of Narnia10. The Client

There were so many more posts I probably could have chosen for this. This will have to do for now though. So remember leave me a comment to be entered into my very first giveaway. I will randomly pick the winner next week. I can't believe I made it to 100 posts. I've only been blogging since March. Thanks for reading and please tell your friends to come on over!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Friday we went down to Philadelphia to meet up with Renee who I have been talking to online for 7 years. I met her online at first on a message board for Parents of 1999 Babies. Her oldest and my oldest were both born in 1999. This was the first time we got to meet her. She's in Philadelphia until the end of the month because her daughter Kennedy had spine fusion surgery there so they spent the month. And since Philadelphia is much closer to me than TN (where she lives) I figured this would be a great time to finally meet in real life. We also ended up meeting up with another one of the 1999 moms from the group, but I had met her a few times before when she came and vacationed up around here. It was such a fun time though getting all of our kids together and seeing how they instantly made friends.

A Bridge we went over going into PA

Swimming on the roof of the hotel

Kameron, Kassidy, and Natalie waiting for food

CJ's first taste of a Philly cheesesteak

Our 1999 babies: Left to Right Kassidy, Rebecca, and Natalie

All of the kids in front of the Liberty Bell Left to Right: Natalie, CJ, Kaitlyn, Keeghan, Rebecca, Kassidy, Brandon, Kameron, and Kennedy

1999 Moms from Left to Right: Renee, Allyson, and Monica

Sunset Leaving Philly

We went back to Allyson's house in MD to spend the night and then home Saturday. We had lots of fun getting together with all of the kids. We swam on the roof, had philly cheese steaks, saw the Liberty Bell, and got ice cream. I'm hoping we'll get to see everyone again very soon.

Last Thursday after swimming Joe took the girls fishing. They had some nice catches. Some catfish and blue gills like usual, but then a few different things were caught too. Some tiny lobsters were caught and a painted turtle. Here are their catches.

The turtle with the little lobster

The turtle, who was named Lucky, and lobster were both brought to another local pond and let go. The girls were sad to see him go and wished we could have kept him. However, we told them he would be much happier in the wild with other turtles.

Here are a few other pictures for you too of CJ. Pictures I couldn't resist taking after the turtle photo shoot.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Here are the pictures of Joe taking CJ in the pool today. He objected, but it wasn't a time when I could really be in the pool so he really had no choice. He does such a good job swimming with him too.

I thought I was going to be all caught up by posting these pictures, but I took more today after uploading these. Joe took the kids fishing AGAIN and they caught a turtle. So I have pictures of the turtle they caught. So be sure to check back again one of these days (probably not tonight) to see the turtle they caught.

Sorry for the multiple posts today about our week. This is what happens when you aren't home much to blog about anything. I actually have things to talk about. So now you've seen where we were on Monday and then Tuesday our swimming pictures. Now yesterday we went for CJ's DOC Band measuring. That was quick and painless. All the literature I was given at the place and on their website was telling me the appointment would be an hour and a half long and they'd be casting his head and it was going to be a big mess. However, they apparently fazed that out a few months ago and now just do digital photos instead. I forgot my camera and I was so disappointed because I would have had some good shots. They came in and put this net over his head. It was white and they pulled it down over his face too. He wasn't too sure what to make of that. He kept trying to eat it of course since it was touching his face. He looked all ready to rob a bank though. We then carried him into another room where we weren't allowed to cross the masking tape line on the floor. They took CJ over to this stool and put him on it with the therapist holding him and then snapped a couple of pictures before he started crying. Luckily that was enough and they gave him back to me and sent us back to the room. They needed to make sure the pictures came out and if they did we could leave and if not we would have to try again. Luckily they came out and we were on our way. So now we go back in two weeks to get the band. They will go over the wearing and care of it and do any "trimming" on it if it should need it while we're there. Hopefully then I won't forget my camera.

After that we headed on down to where Joe and I both grew up in CT. Both our family still lives in that area of the state so we were going to visit Joe's sister. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and of course didn't want to leave. It was a nice day though. We even brought the kids to the pizza restaurant that we had Natalie's 1st birthday party at for dinner.

Well, you've seen the girls in their swim class, but never CJ. Hard to take pictures when you have to be in the pool too. So because Joe is on vacation this week he took pictures of us on Tuesday. Please don't mind all of the boob shots of me, remember my husband is a boob man. I cropped myself out of the really bad one.

Joe went in the pool with CJ today so I took pictures of him in the pool with him. As soon as I get those uploaded I will share them so please be sure to check back. I'm a blogging fool today. Trying to get everything in before the weekend when I won't be near my computer.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Joe is on vacation this week and we've been doing something each day. So it's been hard to keep up with posting. I did however get the pictures from our trip to Six Flags on Monday uploaded tonight to share. I have tons more pictures to come, but you might have to wait until next week. Depends on how my day goes tomorrow.

We had a great time at Six Flags on Monday though. We weren't sure we were going to go. We woke up and it was raining and it was saying scattered showers all day. I managed to convince Joe that one this was the only day to do it and two it would probably be less crowded. And boy were we glad we decided to go. The weather ended up being just fine and I do think that there might have been smaller crowds because of the threatening weather. All in all it was a great day. So enjoy looking at what we did.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Kaitlyn, my 6 year old, has a boy who's slightly infatuated with her. Every time he sees her this summer he has handed her a note saying I Love You! Here is what she got today...

Kaitlyn isn't too impressed with this. She would much rather that I throw this away rather than displaying it on the fridge. Notice how he even drew a picture of the two of them together almost holding hands. Awwww, that's so sweet! Her first love letter, hahahahaha. Let me tell you all that Kyle is also a six year old little boy. We have known him for a while. His mom is my girl scout co-leader and PTA VP so we get together a lot. We'll have to see how long his infatuation with Kaitlyn lasts. So far it has been my experience that by about 3rd grade the boys and girls aren't all that impressed with each other. Then again Kaitlyn isn't all that impressed with this particular boy right now. I think she'd much rather stay just friends.

We got the insurance's approval yesterday for CJ's DOC Band. So tomorrow we have an appointment to get his head measured for it. They used to do this whole casting process, but now they just take a bunch of digital images of his head and it's less time. So only a 30 minute appointment and then in 2 weeks we have to go back to get the helmet. So July 30th he'll start wearing it. That appointment will be a little longer because we'll have to learn all about it and stuff I guess. I'm so relieved this is getting done. I figure 12 weeks from when he gets it brings us to October 22nd which would be before his 1st birthday. If he had to go the longer the 14 weeks it would be after his birthday. So I'm hopeful the 12 weeks will be enough or maybe even 13 weeks. It sure would be nice to have it off for his birthday.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

I was just sitting here in the quiet doing laundry and contemplating something Joe said to me today. He's off fishing with the girls and the baby is napping so all is peaceful in the house; which might not be a good thing because then I start to think things like this. Is there possibly such a thing as being TOO honest in a marriage? Let me explain...

This morning as my husband was getting all the fishing gear together he was in a particularly chatty mood. Unlike him, but he's happy he's on vacation so I'll take it when I can get it. So he's telling me about some things that were said at work at some meeting he had last week and stuff no big deal. Then he comes out with I had the best seat in the house at the meeting. Thinking to myself oh he must have had a nice view of the new shirts they were showing them they were getting soon as part of their uniform or something completely innocent like that. Nope, not my husband. No his seat was good because he was able to see down one of his boss' blouse every time she bent over! Nice! Okay, yes my husband can be a pig. He is a boob man, I knew this when I married him, but really did he have to tell me this? Now I know I have nothing to worry about with him. Hey, he's human the eye can wonder. Look, but don't touch. I'm not completely innocent myself. Some of those young lifeguards who are teaching my daughters how to swim, hey they are fine. I can't help but look and admire their young fit bodies. I don't however go telling my husband everyday we come home from swimming lessons about the nice view I had of the lifeguard today.

So what about you? Would you prefer that your husband tell you about the peep show he got or the hot woman he saw or do you want him to keep that to himself?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Okay, I know it's two in one day, but this is just such great news I had to share!

Kennedy has been discharged from the hospital! A week and a day after a 9 hour surgery and she gets to leave. They have to stick around Philadelphia till the end of the month as there will be more post op checks and such, but the whole family is together in one place again. Way to heal Kennedy!

This is what Kaitlyn has looked like for the past couple of weeks. I think I forgot what color her eyes are. She's such a shaggy dog. I didn't want to get her hair cut though because in the summer her hair gets so straggly anyways from being in the pool and the sun. I couldn't wait to do something about these bangs though because well she cannot see. Poor kid. So I called up my hair dresser and set up an appointment to get her bangs cut this afternoon. And here is what Kaitlyn looks like now...

Oh look at that her eyes are a beautiful shade of blue. They are so pretty, aren't they? She told me this morning that she didn't want to get her bangs cut, but she's been complaining about them for weeks. Now that it's done I think she is enjoying being able to see again. I should have done this last week before her doctor's appointment. Maybe she would have done better on her vision test.

So remember Kennedy? I asked for prayers for her a week ago as she went into her spine fusion surgery. She has come out of the long surgery fine. She's been battling a fever for the past week, but she was fever free all day yesterday. She had her first post op CT scan on Tuesday and the results from that were great. She has gotten up and about and yesterday, a week after having bone removed from her hip and the back of her neck and head cut into, she was walking on her own. So those prayers and well wishes have been working. They could possibly even leave the hospital tomorrow. That would be wonderful! Next Friday we are taking a trip down to Philadelphia so we can see Renee and all of the kids including the miracle that is Kennedy. I am so looking forward to this and will surely have a bunch of pictures for you when we get back. I really want to thank you all for continuing to pray for Princess Kennedy. You can still read all the updates on Renee's blog. She's been doing an excellent job keeping us up to date on what's been happening.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Okay so here are the stats on Natalie. She's 50 1/2 inches tall and weighs 68 1/2 pounds. She's a little above the 50th %tile for weight and a little under the 50th for height, but the doctor says it's all good. Natalie also had to get her chicken pox booster shot today. She did great. When the doctor was done she looked at her and looked at her arm and looked at her again smiled and said, "That's it; that didn't hurt!"

Natalie didn't do so great on her vision test and she was wearing her glasses. The doctor started to tell me that she might need to see an eye doctor and I told her that was with her glasses. She asked when was the last time they were checked and I said she just got them in January. So since insurance probably won't pay for another pair of glasses until it's been a year we'll have to wait. So she told me that if she's having problems seeing the board at school that I should talk to the teacher about it and explain that we have to wait until January. Hopefully it won't be too much trouble.

The doctor spoke to Natalie about her changing body and hormones and all that stuff. She did a nice job talking to her about all of that. She checked to see how far along in puberty she is and she said she is starting, but it's very early in. If she was further along she was going to talk to her about her period, but she's not that close I guess to getting her first period. That's good to hear. She asked me how old I was when I got mine and I was 13 and she asked about how early Joe had started going through puberty. I don't think that is something I've ever thought to ask him actually ;). I think he was older though so she said because of how late I got my 1st period and when Joe likely started puberty she probably wouldn't be going through all of this too much earlier than I did. Good because I'm not ready for this. Although we will talk to her more about that stuff.

All in all it was a good appointment except for the long wait we had (an hour and 15 minutes) in the waiting room. I'm beat and am just waiting to give CJ one more feeding before I go off to bed myself.

Tomorrow Kaitlyn is finally getting her bangs cut. They are way too long and have been bothering her. Plus we can't see her eyes. I'll try to share a before and after picture for you. We're just doing her bangs though and not the rest of her hair. With the summer and her hair always up in pony tails and all the chlorine from the pool her hair usually gets pretty brittle and breaks by the end of the summer. So we'll get a real nice cut for her to go back to school the end of August. Now I just want her to see again and to see those pretty blue eyes of hers again. I think they are still blue. I don't know it's been a while since I've actually seen them.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

So have you ever heard about this place called EZ School Supplies? I just learned about them a week or so ago on another mommy blog. And then today I got an e-mail from them asking me to advertise them on my blog too and if I do they are offering 10% off to anyone who buys their school supplies and uses the promo code on my blog. So how do I got the 10% off you may be asking yourself? Well, scroll down on the left hand side of my blog there is a link for you to go shopping at EZ School Supplies and the promo code is there.

Now you might be asking yourself why should I buy my school supplies with EZ School Supplies? Well, first of all they have lists of many different schools of what they require for school supplies for their students. It's one stop shopping and you don't have to deal with the crowds or use the gas to drive to the store. Plus, they have awesome customer service. Remember that mommy blog I was talking about that I heard about this from? Well, she had received two free school supply kits from EZ School Supplies just because she called up and asked for another one. Now that's pretty good customer service if you ask me.

Go check them out and see for yourself. Wouldn't it be great to have all of your Back to School shopping done by mid July? Use the promo code that they gave me and get 10% off your entire order. I plan on doing my shopping with them this year actually as soon as I find out who my children's teachers are going to be and what they want them to have to start the year off with.

Ahhh, so after yesterdays frightening class for Kaitlyn swimming I'm so relieved that today was much better. They took my concerns seriously. Today there was a point in time when there were three teachers in the pool with the kids. Most of the time it was just two of them, but the class was much better. They had control of all of the kids this time. They were holding them and helping keep their heads above the water. It was much more fun for Kaitlyn too I'm sure.

I spoke to the other life guard who was helping out with the class today to find out if this would be continuing. He told me probably not tomorrow because he would not be there. So I asked if someone else could be in the pool with him because I don't have confidence that he's going to be able to handle the class without help. He said he understood and would talk to his morning guards and have someone in the pool with him again tomorrow.

I will continue to keep a very close eye on them in the pool. Especially if they end up letting him go solo for the class. It was a much better day today though that's for sure. Such a huge relief because I really enjoy having the kids in these swim lessons.

Monday, July 7, 2008

It's summer time. Time for swimming, BBQ's, fun in the sun, playing, and staying up late. But lots of children die accidental deaths because they don't know proper pool safety or are not properly watched around the pool. This is my main reason for making sure that my children learn how to swim. So for many summers now we have signed up for swim lessons with the town pool with Red Cross trained Life Guards. Kaitlyn started out in the Parent/Child classes with me when she was just 18 months old and now CJ is doing the same class with me starting at 7 1/2 months old. Over the years the girls have had their good teachers and their not so good teachers, but never as bad as what I saw today.

Kaitlyn, my 6 year old, is in Level 1. She has been in Level 1 since last year. In Level 1 they advertise the class as being Introduction to Water Skills. Exit from the Parent and Child Aquatics course is recommended. Children learn breath control, buoyancy on front and back, alternating arm and leg actions, and general water safety rules. I have been putting my children in these lessons long enough to know though that they hold the children in the water when they are learning their alternating arm and leg actions and front and back floats. If you've seen the pictures of Kaitlyn swimming lately you will see that her teacher was always with her. Well, today started the 2nd session of swimming lessons and thus a new teacher for everyone. Kaitlyn got the teacher that Natalie had last session for Level 4. Now I wasn't overly impressed with him as a teacher for her because he never got in the water and would show the kids how to do the strokes by standing outside the pool. But Natalie can swim and in Level 4 is just building up her strength and stamina and also learning the breast stroke and butterfly stroke. So it wasn't a big deal that he wasn't in the pool with them because they all knew how to swim at this point. They also are not five and six year olds.

Now, he did get in the water with the kids for Level 1, but he mine as well have been standing on the side of the pool watching them. He played a little Simon Says with them and then really started the class. He had them throw out their "wet pet" one at a time and then swim out to get them, but he never once put his hands on them. Now some of the kids tried walking out so he would pick them up to put them on their bellies to kick and scoop out to their wet pets and then swim back. And then because he had no control over the kids he would have to chase the ones who were wandering out into the deep end and completely ignoring his instructions to get back on the wall. He did this while he was supposed to be helping Kaitlyn swim. So he was half way down the pool retrieving another child while Kaitlyn was barely keeping her head up above the water. I just about lost it. Finally the teacher that she had last session finished teaching the Parent/Child class (that one is only 30 minutes long while the rest are 45 minutes long) and he came over and rescued these poor little children. I calmed down a little once he was there because he at least had control over the class and I knew he wouldn't walk away from my child while she was barely keeping her head above water.

I wished that I had the director's phone number while I was sitting watching this so I could call and have him come see what his life guards are doing to these poor children. I didn't have it though. As soon as I came home I called and complained though. I told the person that I spoke to if this happens again tomorrow while I'm in the Parent/Child class with my son then I will be taking all of us out of the pool and demanding reimbursement of our money for these lessons. He said he would speak to the person who taught the class. I'm going to be a nervous wreck tomorrow though and unable to concentrate on what I'm supposed to be doing worried sick about my daughter. Swim lessons are not supposed to be dangerous for the children. It is supposed to give them the knowledge they need to be in and around water and the confidence to be in and around water. Neither one of these things was this teacher giving my daughter today. I am actually hoping that they don't even allow him to continue teaching the young ones because he is just not able to handle it.

I have a few words for the parents of the four boys who were making the class even more difficult though. That was just as wrong. There wasn't a single parent scolding these children who kept wandering out into the deep end. That's actually very scary. I never rely on just a lifeguard to watch my children when they are in the pool. I am always watching them even throughout swim lessons. Maybe that's the overprotective mom in me or something, but whenever Kaitlyn is not following the safety rules I yell at her. Natalie too, but that usually doesn't happen. If that were my child who kept wandering away from the class like that then he would have been pulled right out of the water to sit on the side and watch until he could follow the rules.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

So yesterday was the last day of Natalie and Kaitlyn's first session of swimming lessons. They do four two week sessions during the summer. We have to sign them up every two weeks. So this is the day they look forward to for two weeks... Fun Friday. They get to do whatever they want in the pool. And when the class is all over they get a blow pop. Who wouldn't be happy with that? So here are some pictures from their first Fun Friday of the summer...

Natalie

Marco Polo

Relay Racer

Weeeeeeee!

Speed Bumps

Climbing out of the Pool

Natalie on the Diving Board

Jump Kaitlyn!

Natalie's Dive

Kaitlyn Jumped

Kaitlyn Jumped into 11 feet of Water

Kaitlyn on the Diving Board

Natalie Swimming

Mom's Little Sparkler!

Kaitlyn did not jump off the diving board. She just walked out on the board to see what it was like. None of her classmates jumped off of the diving board. She walked right out there though.